Sometimes it's good to play on the dark side

万圣节：“玩坏”一下又何妨

万圣节(Halloween)，作为“洋节”正在日益被中国年轻人所接受，在老外眼中这个节日蕴含了怎样的理念？在中国过这个节日，又能看出怎样的文化差异？

The first time that I celebrated¹ Halloween in China, I was walking down a street of bars and nightclubs. I was carrying a walking stick while wearing a long black leather overcoat and a rubber mask that I had just bought. The mask looked like the face of a withered² old man with stringy white hair, so that I must have looked like an undertaker.

记得我初次在中国过“万圣节”时，走在一条满是酒吧、夜总会的小街上，手拿拐杖，身披黑色皮衣，头戴一副刚刚买来的橡胶面具。面具就像一位面容槁枯，白发稀疏的老人，所以我看上去应该就如同一位送葬者一般吧。

As I passed the open doorway of a small club I stopped, turned, and stared into the eyes of a hostess. She screamed and ran inside. So, I followed her into the club, behind the bar, through the kitchen and out through the rear door into an alleyway, with her running and screaming the whole time.

路过一家夜总会时，我在敞开的店门前停下脚步，转头盯着一位女招待的眼睛。她顿时被吓得尖叫起来，跑进屋子。于是我就跟着她走进夜总会，来到吧台后面，穿过厨房，最终从后门来到背街上，一路上她只是不停地奔跑和尖叫。

Now, I am not proud of doing this to the poor woman, but the point is that somehow Halloween gives you an excuse to be something you’re not, usually something dark, scary and powerful. It’s a difficult temptation to resist taking it a little too far sometimes.

现在回想来，吓唬这位可怜女士的行为并不值得炫耀，不过，“万圣节”确实还是给你一个机会，把自己打扮得黑暗、恐怖并且强大。有时候，想要抵挡住这种恶搞的念头，还真不是很容易。

China has a long history with ghosts. For many people, these spirits are a very real part of the world and are treated with wary³ respect and fear.

在中国，关于鬼怪传说由来已久。对许多人来说，魂灵是真实世界的一部分，必须心怀敬畏，真情以待。

In China, most such apparitions⁴ are the spirits of dead ancestors who must be constantly appeased⁵ with votive offerings of food, incense⁶ and paper money. This is no laughing matter, and tending to the needs of the departed is one of a family’s biggest social responsibilities.

中国人常常认为，这些鬼魂大都是祖先的魂灵，一定要用食物、香火和纸钱来祭奠他们。这是一件需要严肃对待的事情，满足亡灵的心愿成为许多家庭最为看重的社会责任。

In the US, we are more playful with our ghosts and our superstitions⁷. We treat Halloween as a time of macabre⁸ celebration.

而在美国，对于鬼魂和灵异事件，我们更多是抱有一种娱乐的心态。我们将“万圣节”视为一个骇人的狂欢节。

Children in school make their own crazy costumes and have various contests for which one is most creative, or scariest, or best overall. There is candy and trick-or-treating, of course, and lots of pictures of black cats, witches riding broomsticks, skeletons and jack⁹ o’lanterns.

学校里，孩子们制作奇装异服，并展开竞赛，选出哪一件作品最新颖、最恐怖或是整体效果最佳。糖果和“不请客就捣乱”游戏，黑猫卡片、巫婆的扫帚、骷髅和南瓜灯都是万圣节必不可少的元素。

Although most Halloween props¹⁰ are made here, Chinese themselves don’t celebrate it in the same way.

尽管大多数的“万圣节”道具是中国制造，但中国人庆祝万圣节的方式却不尽相同。

The idea of having a costume party is being imported to the larger towns and cities by Western influence, and so far it’s almost exclusively an "adult" thing.

受西方文化影响，中国的一些大型城镇和市区会举办化妆舞会；不过，目前它还只是成年人的专利。

In my own town we have a big costume party every year at my favorite local pub, and every year more Chinese are getting involved.

每年在我居住的城镇里，我们每年都会在一家我经常光顾的酒吧举办大型化妆舞会，而参加人数也是逐年增加。

Halloween gives you permission to be silly, to be terrifying, to be weird¹¹, and in fact it rewards you for it.

“万圣节”这天，你可以尽情享受，或荒唐可笑，或令人害怕，或举止古怪，而你从中也会受益良多。

The scary festival can give anyone a safe venue¹² for playing dress-up for a day.

“万圣节”为所有人营造了一种舒适的氛围，人们可以一整天穿着奇异的装束而不必担心遭到嘲笑。

People can take on new personalities¹³, and reinvent themselves according to their wildest flight of fancy. They might actually discover something new about their inner spirit that will last the rest of the year.

人们可以自由想象，天马行空，挖掘打造出一个全新的自我。有些人或许真的在内心发现了新大陆，而这种全新的面貌也将持续到新年到来时。